PHOTOS: Aishwarya Rai's Long Affair With The Cannes Red Carpet

BLACK AND WHITE VERSION
Indian actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan poses as she arrives for the screening of the film 'The Search' at the 67th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 21, 2014. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

The year 2003 was one that actress Aishwarya Rai is probably not likely to forget in a while. Her Cannes appearance, one of her earliest, was written off back home as a “disaster”.

India’s best designers called her Maid in Manhattan, severely criticizing her yellow kurta and brown trousers ensemble on the first day of the international film festival.

Since then Rai, a regular at the festival for over a decade, has found her own style and confidence, seamlessly blending the casual elegance of an Armani Privé with the sporty charm of a Lanvin.

She’s walked that carpet with her new husband Abhishek in 2007, leaning in to whisper to him amid exploding flashbubs. And she’s sportingly endured bitter scrutiny on the post birth weight she carried to the carpet in 2012 in a blue Elie Saab.

Love or hate her style, Rai remains the object of obsessive interest at the Cannes every year. Here's some photos of her long association with the festival.